1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a meter for an automobile, and more particularly to a meter mounted on an instrument panel in an automobile so as to display, for example, the speed of the automobile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An instrument panel in an automobile includes a meter case on which a speed meter displaying the speed of the automobile, a fuel gauge, a water temperature meter, various alarm lamps, etc. are disposed.
That is, a dial plate is fixed inside the meter case of the instrument panel of the automobile, and the speed meter, fuel gauge, water temperature meter, various alarm lamps, etc. are disposed on this dial plate. A plate permeable to light is disposed behind the dial plate, and, for example, a meter drive unit of the speed meter is fixed to the meter case on the rear side of the light-permeable plate. A pointer of the speed meter driven by the meter drive unit on the basis of the result of speed measurement is disposed on the front side of the dial plate.
An illuminating lamp is mounted on the back wall of the meter case. A glass plate is disposed on the front side of the meter case. The light emitted from the lamp passes through the light-permeable plate to irradiate the back surface of the dial plate thereby illuminating the dial plate from the rear side by the light transmitting through the light-permeable plate. In another form, the light emitted from the lamp is guided through a light guide member toward the front side of the dial plate, thereby illuminating the dial plate from the front side.
The dial plate used hitherto is provided by preparing a transparent base of, for example, a synthetic resin, printing a light-permeable ink providing a bright ground color of, for example, white on the transparent base to form a display area of the speed meter, and then selectively printing an ink of a dark color, for example, grey on the display area thereby forming a display part for displaying meter graduations, characters and patterns. An ink of black color is then printed on the dial plate except the display area so as to form an outer frame of the meter. Thus, when the light from the lamp irradiates the rear surface of the dial plate, the light permeates the speed display area only, so that the graduations characters and patterns display part can be recognized in the form of silhouettes.
As another prior art means, the dial plate is provided by printing an ink providing a bright ground color, for example, white on the surface of the transparent base to form the graduations, characters and patterns display part, printing a light-permeable ink of a dark color, for example, grey on the surface of the display part to form the display area of the speed meter, and then printing an ink of black color on the meter surface except the speed display area of the dial plate to form an outer frame of the meter. Thus, the light emitted from the lamp permeates the display part only.
However, the prior art meters described above, are devoid of deluxe sense because a conventional color ink is merely printed on the surface of the transparent base. Even when, for example, a metallic ink is printed on the surface of the base, the desired metallic luster cannot be actually provided, and there remains the problem of impossibility of providing the dial plate showing the desired deluxe external appearance.
Also, when the metallic ink is printed on the base with a large thickness, the printed ink film does not permit permeation of light. On the other hand, when the metallic ink is printed on the base with a small thickness, a non-uniform distribution of the metal particles is inevitably perceived by the eyes of the driver. Thus, in any case, there is the problem of impossibility of providing the dial plate showing the desired beautiful external appearance.